Trending toward Professional, Female-Led Churches

Okay. I know it is 2015. I know that most trends for church involvement and attendance are down. I know that the “nones” have dropped out of religion almost entirely, even though they may consider themselves spiritual. If you have dropped out or never been a church person, you may be thinking, “ And that ’s surprising?”

Those in the under-65 crowd are responding, “If I have more dollars than time, why can’t I just give a donation so a professional can be hired?”

But church people are asking: How and where can we turn things around? Is God concerned? If so, do we need to help God “save” organized religion?

According to a 2012 study from the Pew Research Center ’ s Religion & Public Life Project, the number of those who do not identify with any religion “ continues to grow at a rapid pace. One-fifth of the U.S. public, including a third of adults under 30, are religiously unaffiliated. ”

I’ m not going to put forth any solutions here (or I ’ d write a best-selling book and earn a sure “ get into heaven free card ”— just joking) but this is some of the stuff rolling around in my head.

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Churches, many of them, are becoming more and more professional. In some circumstances I would consider that a good thing. The music director at our church used to put in a tremendous amount of time — as a volunteer. We now hire people to mow our church lawn, clear snow in the winter, paint and repair the building, and do janitorial work. All of these are jobs that used to be done by volunteer church members at our church. How about yours?

I’ m not sure what it says about those of us in the church, about society, about volunteerism and Christian stewardship.

I get that we’ re all busy. At least, most of us under 65 are, and from what I hear from those who have retired, they stay very busy too — at least if they try to stay active and involved. I get that some are not able to help out much at church — especially after 65. The above-65 crowd says, “ We put in our time for the church. Now it is time for others to step up. ”

Those in the under-65 crowd are responding, “ If I have more dollars than time, why can ’ t I just give a donation so a professional can be hired? ”

I get that some jobs at church require more time, energy, and commitment than others. One of the factors leading to this need to hire people to do jobs that volunteers used to do is, perhaps, the fact that church membership and participation among males is particularly shrinking. Which leads me to another rolling-around thought.

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Churches are missing a whole generational cohort (or two) of men. When I look around at my Protestant, highly educated, mostly white church, I see older guys, some younger ones, and a few teens, but mostly I see married women and widows sitting by themselves.

A study from 2003 says that a typical U.S. congregation draws an adult crowd that is 61 percent female and 39 percent male. (And I can guess the stats are now even more unbalanced. See more information at http://churchformen.com.) While the church has spent the last 30 years pushing for expanded roles for women in the church, the guys are slipping out the back door. Why?

I mourn the lack of gender balance. I miss the men.

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So am I here not only pushing for men to come back to church (and, by implication, faith) but to use their very limited spare time to volunteer to fix the toilet at church?

Well, yes, sort of. Why?

So the church is more gender balanced and so that all our children and society will see and experience all of the benefits of that.

Joining with others to give of your time and yourself in various projects is a great way to step out of the individualism that characterizes some of the ill we see in society, and to enter into community, fellowship, and camaraderie. And yes, fun!

While there are other clubs and organizations to join and volunteer for, I do not know of another 2,000-year-old organization as worthy as the church. People have often turned to the church during time of personal or national crisis. It has been a foundational part of culture and society.

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But then, I’ m female, over 60, and a grandmother. Maybe I should just go back to rocking my grandbabies. Oh yeah — we now hire that done at church too!

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